On Sunday, November 12, 2023, the first meeting of the Advisory Group of Experts was held. The Group was formed to assist in assessing the moral qualities and level of competence in the field of law of candidates for the office of judge of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine.
At its first meeting, the Advisory Group of Experts delivered two key decisions necessary to commence its work - elected the Chairman and Secretary, and approved the Regulations on the Advisory Group of Experts.
Aleš Zalar was elected the Chairman of the Advisory Group of Experts, and Yaroslav Romaniuk was elected the Secretary of the Advisory Group of Experts.
In his welcoming speech, the Chairman of the Advisory Group of Experts thanked his colleagues for their trust and emphasised the importance of cooperation between all members of the Advisory Group of Experts. “The Chairman of the Advisory Group of Experts is one of the six equal members of this group, we remember that and it is extremely important that we proceed with our work as fruitfully as we started it when we worked on the preparation for this meeting,” he said.
Aleš Zalar also informed that the Advisory Group of Experts would continue to work on the draft Methodology for assessing moral qualities and the level of competence in the field of law of candidates for the office of judge of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine, in order to develop the final version of the document in the near future.
In addition, the Chairman of the AGE invited representatives of civil society to cooperate. ‟It is very important for us to have cooperation with you, to receive information from you in this process. Since there is a legal requirement that we need to collect all information about candidates, hold a proper assessment of such information, track everything that is important in the process of interviewing the candidates. Therefore, we strongly encourage such cooperation with Ukrainian stakeholders. This is an important part of the process”.
He emphasised that the Advisory Group of Experts would carry out its work as transparently as possible. “We are all very aware of the importance of our activities being as transparent as possible, particularly when it comes to the decision-making process and the results we achieve”. In this context, Aleš Zalar noted that Ukrainian society had the opportunity to help the Advisory Group of Experts in their work. He also urged to follow the work of the AGE on the official website of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine and webpages of the AGE in social networks. “All this will not only contribute to the processes of transparency, but also to the processes of integrity”, he said.
Finally, Aleš Zalar wished everyone safety and stressed that Ukraine had the support of the entire international community and the Advisory Group of Experts was a confirmation of this. According to him, the international community, through such projects, will continue to provide the support of our country needs. He also emphasised the achievements that had already been gained, and aimed at preserving democracy and sovereignty of Ukraine.
Reference. The Advisory Group of Experts consists of six members and six deputies.
The members of the AGE are: Hanna Suchocka, Aleš Zalar, Maureen O'Connor, Oksana Vasylchenko, Yaroslav Romaniuk and Nataliia Kuznietsova.
Their deputies are, respectively, Richard Barrett, Marek Zubik, Thomas B. Griffith, Ihor Protsiuk, Volodymyr Kuzmenko and Vasyl Shakun.
We also draw your attention to the fact that the meeting of the Advisory Group of Experts was broadcast live on the official website and YouTube channel of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine.
At the same time, information about the activities of the Advisory Group of Experts will be available on the website of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine in the section “For the information of citizens” under the heading “Advisory Group of Experts”, on the official Facebook page of the Advisory Group of Experts and on the YouTube channel of the Advisory Group of Experts.
